Russian President Vladimir Putin stroked President Donald Trump’s ego after echoing his claim that if the Republican had won the 2020 presidential election, there would be no war in Ukraine.
The two leaders emerged after Friday’s closed-door talks in Anchorage, Alaska, stretched almost three hours, where they announced that some “great progress” had been made on ending the war but no ceasefire deal was reached.
During his address, Putin, who spoke first, also took aim at former President Joe Biden in a move that likely pleased Trump.
“I’d like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said, via a translator.
“I said it quite directly back then that it’s a big mistake,” Putin continued. “Today, when President Trump [said] that if he was the president back then, there would be no war. And I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so, I can confirm that.”
The claim—which is impossible to prove or disprove— is one Trump has repeated many times since he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.
“The Ukrainian conflict should never have happened, and would not have happened if I were President,” Trump said on Truth Social in 2022.
“Putin never would have gotten into Ukraine if it weren’t for the incompetence of this administration, this current administration,” Trump claimed in May 2023, referring to the Biden administration. “Putin was not going in, it was never mentioned and I knew him very well.”
The president also bragged that he would end the war in “24 hours.”
“If I were president, and I say this, I will end that war in one day, it would take 24 hours,” Trump said in May 2023. “I know Zelensky well, I know Putin well. I would get that ended in a period of 24 hours. It would be easy, that deal would be easy.”
Trump greeted Putin warmly at the summit just outside Anchorage at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
In an unusual move, Putin ditched his own Aurus limousine and climbed into the president’s armored stretch vehicle, known as “The Beast.”
There were no other aides in the vehicle as Putin and Trump talked one-on-one en route to the base facility for the summit.
Given that the one-on-one summit suddenly emerged as a three-on-three — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff as well as Russian minister of foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov and Russian policy adviser Yury Ushakova — the car ride was the lone opportunity for the two leaders to be alone together aside from security and the driver.
Speaking after the summit, Putin appeared optimistic about the talks as he said he and Trump had come to ‘agreements’ and described Ukraine — the sovereign nation he invaded and has been pillaging since March 2022 — as Russia’s “brotherly nation.”
By contrast, Trump followed in brief comments and said firmly: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
